How to quickly differentiate a great realtor from a mediocre one?

[Gabriela Herrera]

I am actively looking at the market to see where to invest next. I did not have a great experiences with realtors in the past. They all seem great at the beginning but then it looks like I am the one doing all the work and they only set up the visits to the properties. 

How do you tell which ones are the keepers without wasting too much time? Any questions in particular I should ask during the first meeting? Red flags to look for?

Appreciate the help!

Gaby

[Russell Brazil]

Sales volume can reveal a lot.  Typically those of us selling a lot of properties are better at what we do.  That isnt necessarily to say a top team selling $100 million is significantly better than a solo agent selling $10 million.....but there is a line of differentiation in every market. In my market, I would say its right around $5 million in volume and up, and you typically have pretty good agents.  Those are the full time professionals.  If you are looking at agents who are really only selling $3 million and under, those are the part timers, or the ones who dont have the talent or work ethic to really produce.